Category Archives: Meanings of life / death / social & moral stuff

The Age of Moonshot Ideals?

Posted on May 20, 2017 by

It is hopeless to try to guess at how the future will judge us. We are in the thick of things, and we don’t know what will emerge as important or significant over time. Events that seem to us exciting … Continue reading →

Posted in Machines / gadgets / technology / games, Meanings of life / death / social & moral stuff | 1 Comment

Sloterdijk’s Spheres

Posted on May 9, 2017 by

I finished reading volume 3 of Sloterdijk’s Spheres trilogy, and then went back and read the whole series again. It has been a delightful struggle to think through the rich banquet of ideas and images he offers. I have written up … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Meanings of life / death / social & moral stuff, Stacks of Books | Leave a comment

Knowledge, that human practice

Posted on February 6, 2017 by

Ordinarily, we think knowledge is having in one’s head some kind of story or an explanation that matches how Things Really Are. This ordinary conception has at least two problems. First, it assumes that there is a way Things Really … Continue reading →

Posted in Historical episodes, Items of the academy / learning, Meanings of life / death / social & moral stuff | 13 Comments

Living in the light of necessity

Posted on December 15, 2016 by

[excerpt from To View from Eternity] The neoplatonists urge us to see our troubled lives from the view of eternity. The world issues from the metaphysical character of the One, which means that the order of the planets and the balance … Continue reading →

Posted in Meanings of life / death / social & moral stuff, Stacks of Books | 3 Comments

Needed: a handbook for e-life

Posted on December 10, 2016 by

There probably is room in today’s ideosphere for a handbook for living a balanced life in our ephemeral e-world. If course, for a great many humans (the majority? I think so, but I’m not sure) there really is no e-world, … Continue reading →

Posted in Meanings of life / death / social & moral stuff | 2 Comments

Victorian anthropology

Posted on November 14, 2016 by

[Reading George W. Stocking, Victorian Anthropology (Free Press, 1987)] Stocking’s book is most centrally about how 19th-century upper-class British males managed to combine their sense of superiority with an emerging awareness of Darwinian evolution. Many loose threads needed to be woven … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Historical episodes, Meanings of life / death / social & moral stuff, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Living cynically

Posted on October 28, 2016 by

(an excerpt from Doubts) The contemporary German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk defines “cynicism” as enlightened false consciousness. It is what results when we know all too well our own weaknesses and limitations, and our own involvement in dastardly practices, but then … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Historical episodes, Meanings of life / death / social & moral stuff, Stacks of Books | 7 Comments